It happens more often than most boards expect. A finance director moves on, and within weeks the annual audit is on hold, the single audit is paused, and a funder deadline is still sitting on the calendar.
We recently stepped in for a human services nonprofit in exactly this position. Their finance lead had left, both the financial statement audit and the single audit had stalled, and more than 80% of their funding came through government contracts. There was a hard year-end deadline and very little room for error.
If you find yourself here, the instinct is to post the job and hope the right person arrives quickly. We’d suggest a different order of operations.
Why This is Harder Than an Ordinary Vacancy
When a finance lead leaves, a lot of knowledge walks out with them. Which accounts were reconciled and which weren’t. How time was allocated across grants. Where the supporting documents live, especially when some records are still on paper and grant reporting runs through spreadsheets. Your auditor is waiting on a request list, and your government funders have compliance requirements that don’t pause for staffing changes.
Stabilize First, Then Recruit
The permanent hire matters, but it isn’t the first problem. The first problem is getting the books and the audit back on track. In practice, that looks like this:
Take inventory. Find the last month that was truly closed. List the open reconciliations, the auditor’s outstanding requests, upcoming grant reports, and payroll and allocation status. You can’t prioritize what you can’t see.
Call your auditor early. Be candid about what happened. Agree on a revised timeline and on which requests come first. Auditors would much rather reset expectations now than discover gaps in fieldwork.
Put the single audit’s needs near the top. For government-funded organizations, documentation of time and effort, cost allowability, and grant-level reconciliations carry real weight. Getting those internal controls documented protects future funding.
Tell your funders before they ask. A short, proactive note to program officers or contract managers builds trust. Silence tends to invite questions later.
Staff the recovery in layers. For this client, we paired a Controller-level consultant doing the hands-on work with a Senior Finance Director providing oversight and handling auditor and leadership communication, with staff accountant support for volume. We were on site within the first week to get our hands on the records.
What We Would Avoid
Three common missteps make a hard situation harder:
- Hiring in a panic. A rushed permanent hire inherits a mess and often leaves too. Interim coverage gives you time to hire well.
- Asking the Executive Director to become the accountant. Leadership’s time is better spent with the board, funders, and staff.
- Modernizing systems mid-crisis. New software can wait. We recommend stabilizing first, then building a prioritized modernization plan once the audit is back on track.
A Note on Roles
We support our clients through their audits, including many single audits. We are not the auditor, and we don’t perform attest work. Keeping those roles clear protects the organization and the integrity of the audit.
The Bottom Line
A finance leadership departure in the middle of an audit feels like a crisis, and in the short term it is one. But it can also be a reset: a chance to document processes that only lived in one person’s head and to define the role you actually need before you hire for it.
If your organization is facing a finance transition, we’re glad to talk it through. Reach out to Lorin Port at lorin@oneabacusadvisory.com or (760) 845-3808 or visit www.oneabacusadvisory.com.
